Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is really a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia. It is a unitary, constitutional, presidential republic, comprising twelve provinces, one autonomous republic along with a capital city. Uzbekistan is bordered by five landlocked countries: Kazakhstan to the north; Tajikistan towards the southeast; Kyrgyzstan towards the northeast; Afghanistan to the south; and Turkmenistan to the southwest.

Once area of the Turkic Khaganate and later Timurid Empires, the location that today includes the Republic of Uzbekistan was conquered in the early 16th century by Eastern Turkic-speaking nomads. The area was gradually incorporated into the Russian Empire throughout the 19th century, and in 1924 what's now Uzbekistan was a bordered constituent republic from the Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR). Following the breakup of the Ussr, it declared independence as the Republic of Uzbekistan on 31 August 1991 (officially celebrated the following day).

Uzbekistan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic having a diverse cultural heritage. The country's official language is Uzbek, a Turkic language designed in the Latin alphabet and spoken natively by approximately 85% of the population; however, Russian remains in widespread use. Uzbeks constitute 81% of the population, followed by Russians (5.4%), Tajiks (4.0%), Kazakhs (3.0%), yet others (6.5%). A majority of Uzbeks are non-denominational Muslims. Uzbekistan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), UN, and also the SCO. While officially a democratic republic, non-governmental human rights organizations define Uzbekistan as "an authoritarian state with limited civil rights".uzbek tvUzbekistan's economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium, and gas. Despite the declared purpose of transition to a market economy, its government continues to maintain economic controls which imports in favour of domestic "import substitution".